Defibrillators are medical devices widely used for treatment of cardiac dysrhythmias and ventricular fibrillation. The treatment applied consists in applying an electrical current to the heart.
Defibrillators are classified as manual or automated defibrillators. Manual defibrillators are designed for medical professionals, while automated defibrillators, also called Automated External Defibrillators (AED), are designed for use by the general public.
Defibrillating simulators have been developed for training users to practice defibrillating procedures. Defibrillating simulators are typically provided with a mannequin simulating a human body and having predetermined contacts areas for receiving defibrillator electrodes (i.e. paddles and/or sticks), and receiving the electrical discharge generated by the defibrillator delivered through the electrodes. Current defibrillating simulators lack realism because of the visible contact areas and restricted defibrillator electrodes positioning on predetermined contact areas that cannot be changed for simulating different human anatomical characteristics. Moreover, current defibrillating simulators require to be used with specifically configured mannequins, thus portability between different platforms is not possible. The mannequins used in connection with defibrillating simulators are typically provided with electrical circuits mounted therein for collecting the electrical discharge delivered through the electrodes of the defibrillating simulators. Mannequins embedding additional simulated patients' functions like a breathing function and breathing movements, the visible contact areas and corresponding electrical circuits required to receive the electrical discharge generated by the defibrillating simulators lead to increased risks of electrical shocks and electronic interferences with other electrical and electronic components within the mannequin.
It would therefore be desirable to provide an improved defibrillating simulator that would reduce at least one of the above-mentioned drawbacks of current defibrillating simulators.